1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image processing apparatus and an integrated document generation method.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, image data is stored in a storage device in an image processing apparatus, such as a multifunction peripheral (MFP), in bitmap format. When the volume of image data stored in the storage device increases, it becomes difficult to find a target file from a list of information including file names and thumbnails.
It will be convenient if a user inputs a keyword included in the target file using a user interface (UI) and causes the MFP to display a list of files that match the keyword according to a search function. However, the image data stored in the storage device of the MFP does not include such a keyword that can be used for searching for a file.
On the other hand, a technique used for vectorizing a bitmapped image input by an image input apparatus is discussed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2006-23942. Data obtained by vectorizing a bitmapped image is referred to as vector data.
The vector data is used for drawing. Thus, the vector data, which is generated by the vectorization, does not necessarily contain a keyword for the search, which is, for example, character string information or image information in a document. For this reason, secondary information obtained from bitmapped image data is generated as additional information, which is not printed, and added to the vector data. Such secondary information is referred to as metadata. The generated metadata is generally added to a job, a page, or a collection of drawing objects (for example, in drawing units of text/graphic/image). Image data can be searched using such metadata.
However, if all secondary information is registered as metadata, the data volume of the metadata becomes extremely large, thus increasing the data size of a document that contains metadata and vector data. Accordingly, searching for a document or transmitting a document between a plurality of MFPs that are connected to one another over a network becomes time-consuming. Further, metadata is not always necessary depended on an application of the image data. Using image data that includes metadata for an application that does not require metadata means wasting a storage area that is used in storing the image data. In addition, transmission time of the image data would unnecessarily increase.